The statistics referred to in this section have been derived from offences reported to or becoming known to police during the financial year ending 30 June.

OFFENCES RECORDED

Offences 'recorded' refers to both offences that have been reported by the public and accepted as being genuine, and offences that have been detected by police in the course of their duties and/or criminal investigations.

Total offences recorded decreased by 6.5% (3,314 offences) from 2001-02 to 2002-03 and follows a decrease the previous year.

OFFENCES CLEARED

The term 'cleared' used by police, refers to the solution of a crime, and not to the trial by court and final disposition.

Of the 47,999 total offences recorded in 2002-03, some 34.1% were cleared. This is slightly higher than the 29.3% cleared in the previous year.